


Hold and Breathe Easy

by honeycasp



Category: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Hugging, M/M, adam is touch starved im losing my miiiiiind, sea shanties au, this is so soft. im soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 16:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20011069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeycasp/pseuds/honeycasp
Summary: Something sinks and settles heavily in his stomach: Adam’s never been touched before, or, at least, never with love, with adoration behind it.





	Hold and Breathe Easy

**Author's Note:**

> hi i did not make the au this was written for its called sea shanties and [heres the creators tumblr](https://slytherinsneke.tumblr.com/)

“I’ve noticed.”

Robert, hearing him start, quickly knots the rope he was fastening and turns to Adam. “Yes…?”

“You do something with your crew.” Adam—Robert was relieved to have a real name to call the lovely creature before him, he named himself—is slouching, as always, and his voice is low, as if he’s trying to pretend he’s smaller than he is, trying to sink into himself. “You clutch them.”

He tries to translate. “I hug them?”

“Is that what it is?”

Something tugs at his heart, and it aches. He walks over to Adam and holds onto a shroud for support. “I take it you don’t know what a hug is?”

“I know what the word means.” Adam shakes his head. “Though I don’t understand it.” Of course. It’s such an established human concept he highly doubts it’s been explained to him. Who would have explained it?

“It’s like,” he mimes a hug with empty air in one arm, “squeezing someone tightly, to give this...comforting pressure, so they know you appreciate them. It reminds you they’re there. It shows affection.”

“Does it have to be,” Adam stutters and steps back, “Does it have to be tight?”

“No, no, it doesn’t. It can be as gentle as you’d like.” He bites his lip. “Like…”

Adam tilts his head in interest. As he’s learning it’s safe here to ask questions, and gradually to talk to people, he’s started to pick up some quirks of Robert’s shipmates.

“I could show you. But only if you’d like.”

For a moment, he thinks he went too far. Adam doesn’t respond for a while, and it’s getting late, so the usual commotion of the ship is absent, and the night air nips his face. It’s quiet, and that’s probably the only reason he hears the soft response:

“Alright.”

He tries to breathe steadily. “Are you sure?”

“It doesn’t hurt?”

He smiles and shakes his head. “I told you I won’t hurt you.”

“...Nor I you.” He says uneasily, and Robert wonders for a moment if he’s thinking of the times he did hurt those in the past. He wishes to banish it from his mind. If hugging is a way to do that, he will do so gladly.

Robert pushes himself away from the shroud and stands right in front of Adam. He looks down and snorts despite himself.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just—I’m so short.” He looks around and finds a box, which he kicks over and steps on. It doesn’t help all that much; he’s only up to about his chest now. “This will do for now.”

“Is height a problem?” Adam asks. They’re close now, and he can feel him growing nervous.

“Just for demonstrating.” He assures. “Don’t worry. It doesn’t really matter.”

“Does it matter to you?”

Robert furrows his brows in confusion and looks up at him. “No. No, it doesn’t.” He clears his throat, not willing to let himself linger there and think about the fact that it’s actually quite endearing to him how Adam towers over him. “Alright. Well, there’s little to it, really. As long as someone puts their arms around someone. It’s just...an embrace. Want me to do it?”

He nods, so Robert spreads his arms, leans forward, and gently wraps himself around his torso. He doesn’t really know what else to do besides. Adam’s frozen still, and for a moment he worries he scared him off too much. Carefully, he loosens his grip and tries to let go—he would back away, if it weren’t for Adam suddenly clutching him close again. He lets out a shaky breath and turns his head so his face is pressed into his chest.

That’s how he feels Adam shaking. His breathing is coming in uneven rises and falls, jerky inhales, and he takes a hand off Robert to muffle a whine. With growing worry, Robert realizes he’s _crying_.

Now concerned, lets go and stands on his tiptoes to investigate. Adam wipes a few tears away, but more come to replace them.

“I’m sorry,” Robert whispers, “Was that too much?”

“No!” He blurts. “It was new.”

He softens. “What did you think?”

“No one’s done that before. To me.”

“Ah.” He says eloquently. As he had to explain the concept, he knew this. But something sinks and settles heavily in his stomach: Adam’s never been touched before, or, at least, never with _love_ , with adoration behind it.

He gently places a hand on his shoulder and pulls him down to meet his eye. With a small, pained sigh, he wipes his tears away.

“Did you like it, though?”

“Yes, yes, it was—" He cuts himself off. "I should think a creature like me doesn’t deserve—”

“No, Adam, don’t. Don’t say whatever it is you’re thinking.” He lets his hands stay cupping his cheeks. “It’s wrong.”

“But I—”

“You deserve love.” He says, very simply put, as if it’s the easiest truth in the whole world. “I can give you some of mine. Knowing so few people in my life, I’ve gathered quite a lot with nowhere to put it. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with it.”

Adam closes his mouth and pauses, considering. “And you...wish to give me some?”

“If you’ll take it.”

He nods, and that’s it. In the middle of the night, on the way back to England from the cold and lonely Arctic, two men who had been lonely all their lives stand, one with skin sewn together from cadavers, in need of a warm blanket and a cup of tea and a _hug_ , and the other standing stupidly on a box with his heart on his sleeve.

“We can hug more, if you want to.” Robert says. “People do it for long amounts of time, but can stop when they please. So. You. Ah.” He bites his lip. “You can hug me any time.” He tacks on: “And I’m sure the rest of the crew wouldn’t be opposed either! They’ve taken a liking to you.”

Adam nods again, and without saying another word, engulfs him again. He stands up fully, and ends up pulling Robert up with him.

Any panic Robert would have had at this faded a few weeks back. So he lets himself be carried into the air, moves his legs to wrap around Adam, and slides his arms down around his neck.

“Thank you,” Adam says.

Robert sighs with contentment and sinks into the crook of his neck. With the chilly air biting, clinging to a warm body like this sends him shivering, and he doesn’t feel like letting go anytime soon.

He has a feeling Adam doesn’t either.

**Author's Note:**

> do you ever yearn? yearn? do i yearn? i yearn. oh yes, yes, i yearn. often i sit and yearn. do you yearn? i crave. i crave all the time, constant craving.


End file.
